Apparatus for administering m edicated vapor-baths



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

P. J. HOLM. APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING MBDIGATED VAPOR BATES.

Patented Mar. 30, 1897 lmlllllllllllllllll PETER JOHN HOLM, OF EAU CLAIRE, WVISOONSIY.

APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING MEDICATED VAPOR-BATHS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,580, dated March 30, 1897.

Application filed March 30, 1895. Serial No. 543,870. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, PETER JOHN HoLM, a citizen of the United States, residing atEau Claire, in the county of Eau Claire and State of WVisconsin, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Administering Medicated Vapor-Baths, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for administering medicated vapor-baths.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for administering medicated vapor-baths adapted to enable the proportion or quantity of medicated vapor to be readily regulated and capable of being arranged so as to permit a bather or patient to inhale the medicated vapor or to subject the body only to the action of the same.

Another object of the invention is'to enable vapor to be introduced directly from a boiler or other generator into the casing or bathcompartment without medicating it and to enable the medicine-receptacles to be readily supplied with drugs and chemicals and to be quickly cleaned, so as to change the medicines quickly.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for administering medicated vapor-baths constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional View. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illustrating the construction of the medicine-receptacles.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the draw ings.

1 designates a rectangular casing or steamchest forming a bath-compartment and provided at one side with a hinged door 2 and having in its top a central circular opening 3, adapted to permit the head of a patient or bather to be protruded through the top when it is desired to subject the body to the action of medicated vapor withoutinhalin g the same. A pair of plates 4 is pivoted to the top at the opening, and they are provided with curved recesses 5, forming a neck-opening, and after a bather or patient has passed his head through the opening 3 the pivoted plates l are closed against his neck to prevent the escape of the medicated vapor. The bather may either stand or sit, and when sitting when it is desirable that he should inhale the vapor the neck-openin g 5 is covered by a disk or plate 6, pivoted to one of the plates and adapted to be swung over the necloopening.

- The casing is provided with a zinc or other sheet-metal bottom tray 6 and has a wastepipe 7, which may communicate with the sewer, and the bottom tray 6*" is provided with a flange 8 at its edges and is adapted to collect condensed vapor and the like and to cause the impurities of the body to be carried off through the waste-pipe.

A perforated false bottom 9 is arranged within the casing and is supported upon suitable cleats and provides an intervening space between it and the sheet-metal bottom tray 6. The said false bottom 9 is provided adjacent to one side of the casing or cabinet 1 with an imperforate portion, the function of which will be presently referred to.

The necessary supply of vapor is obtained from a boiler or any other suitable source and passes through central and side branches 10 and 11 of a vapor-supply pipe. The central branch 10 communicates directly with the in terior of the casing, and the side branches communicate with a pair of medicine-receptacles 12. The central branch 10 has a vertical portion and is provided at the lower end thereof with a horizontal arm passing through the adjacent side of the casing and discharging into the space beneath the imperforate position of the perforated false bot tom 9.

Each medicine-receptacle is cylindricahbut may be of any other desired configuration, and each side branch of the supply-pipe is located above its medicine-receptacle and is L-shaped and passes through an opening in the top or cover 13 of the receptacle and ex tends downward within the same to within a short distance of the bottom thereof, so as to cause the vapor to pass through any medicine contained within the receptacle and to be impregnated with the same.

The medicated vapor in leaving the receptacles 12 passes through delivery-pipes 14 and is introduced by the same into the casing. Each delivery-pipe 14 extends upward from the top or cover of its receptacle, being composed of two sides, and is provided with an elbow or joint at the top and extends downward to the bottom of the casing and is provided With a horizontal arm communicating with the space between the sheet-metal bottom and the false bottom.

Medicine is introduced into the receptacles by means of funnels 15, disposed vertically on the top or cover 13 and passing through the same and provided with a cock or valve 16, which closes the funnel after the medicine has been introduced into the same to prevent the escape of the vapor. Each receptacle 12 is provided adjacent to the bottom with a blow-off cook 18, and when it is desired to clean a receptacle steam is forced through the same and is discharged through the blow-off cock.

Each receptacle is provided with an attachment-plate 19 and is secured to a cleat on the exterior of the casing, but any other suitable means for mounting the receptacles may be provided.

The central and side branches of the supply-pipe are provided with valves 21, having extended horizontally-disposed stems 22,passing through the adjacent side of the casing and provided at their inner ends with handles 23 to enable the bather or patient to control the supply of vapor. By this arrange ment of medicine-receptacles and valves it will be obvious that a person may enter the cabinet and turn on the desired vapor, and if one of the medicated vapors be used and it is too strong it may be tempered to suit by turning 011 the unmedicated steam or vapor. Hence by my construction I am enabled to provide a single bath apparatus or cabinet which provides forbaths of two kinds of medicated vapor of just the strength desired by the bather and a plain vapor-bath, all without special preparation. Moreover,the bather has complete control of the volume of the vapors being used and can regulate the supply, as well as temper the strength, to suit his tastes. By closing the side branches of the supply-pipe and opening the central branch the medicated vapor may be shut off and unmedicated steam or vapor may be introduced into the casing, and by closing the central branch and opening either one of the side branches the casing is supplied with medicated vapor.

In connection with the operation of the central branch to provide for introducing unmedicated steam or vapor into the casing or cabinet it will be observed that the lower horizontal portion of said central branch discharges the unmedicated steam or vapor directly beneath the imperforate portion of the false bottom or floor 9, which imperforate portion of the false bottom or floor prevents the hot steam or vapor from passing directly up through the false bottom or floor and in contact with the body of the bather or patient and causes the hot steam or vapor to distribute itself throughout the space beneath the perforate false bottom or floorand find escape through the perforations of said bottom or floor up into the main portion of the casing or cabinet. It will be obvious that the steam or vapor which has passed through the central branch 10 into the casing 1 is in a much more highly-heated condition than the vapor which has first passed through the liquid in the medicine-receptacles and whose temperature is necessarily lowered thereby before passing into the casing or cabinet. Therefore the function of the imperforate portion of the bottom or floor 9 is quite impor tant to prevent the bather or patient from bein g suddenly subjected to excessive heat from the unmedicated steam or vapor as it passes from the central branch 10.

It will be seen that the apparatus is simple and inexpensive in construction, that it enables vapor to be impregnated with any desired medicine, and that the supply of vapor may be readily controlled from the interior of the casing or cabinet. It will also be apparent that medicines may be conveniently introduced into the receptacle and that the latter can be rapidly and conveniently cleaned when it is desired to change the medicines.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction maybe resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

hat I claim is A bath apparatus consisting of a compartment or casing provided with a false bottom or floor having perforations through only a portion of its area, and an imperforate section of sufficient size to prevent the vapor from coming into direct contact with the bather when in position upon the imperforate section, two medicine-receptacles supported at the side of the casing, a single vapor-supply pipe having three depending connected branches each provided with a valve having a horizontal stem extending inwardly through one side of the casing for separate or simultaneous use, the side branches of the supplypipe being extended downwardly into the medicine-receptacle and the intermediate of said branches having at its lower end a horizontal portion extending through one side of the casing and having its discharge end located directly under the perforated port-ion of the false bottom or floor, and a pair of de- IIO livery-pipes respectivelyconnected to the sepmy own I have hereto affixed my signature in arate medicine-receptacles at one end and the presence of two Witnesses. having their discharge -orifices located beneath the false bottom or floor at the oppo- PETER JOHN HOLM' 5 site sides of the imperforate portion thereof, Witnesses:

as and for the purposes set forth. R. O. STOLL,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as ROBERT SATHER. 

